The Real L World, announced last year, is Showtime’s answer to the remaining thirst for dramatic, high-brow-y lesbian programming, which remains after The L World closed up shop. Naturally, the same criticisms will remain: “Lesbians on television are always lipstick!,” you’ll say; or, “Where are the bull dykes?” Valid questions! But creator Ilene Chaiken has never been apologetic about how she chooses to traffic in sapphic television. She likes putting pretty women on television — the kind you’d want to screw. And producers Magical Elves, the good folks behind the original Project Runway, aren’t new at this either; they know what plays on camera.

But we do like the diversity that’s shown within the lack of diversity. Single women. Engaged women. Women with kids. And not everybody is white (there’s a Latina, woo woo!).

The ladies, at least when the camera is pointed on them, truly seem to believe the show will offer a “real” look at their lives, and not a dressed up or cleverly edited one. We would also like to hope so. Because while good television involves drunken rampages and sleeping around, great television makes actual human relationships more enthralling than those gimmicks.

OK should have seen the commercial first, it’s not bad, I would watch it if I cared to get showtimes lol.

And there is a sort of butch girl in there Queerty it’s the fashion coordinator lady, yeah she’s not muscular nor does she have super short hair but compared to the others she’s the one aesthetically.

Apr 30, 2010 at 12:01 am · @Reply ·

Brandon

Great, Fantastic, Whatever.

Now where’s “The Real G Word”? I wanna see hot dudes goin at it.

Yes, yes I am that shallow.

Apr 30, 2010 at 12:17 am · @Reply ·

bruce

LOL. I thought this was a cover for a porn DVD for straight guys. LOL. All that long, flowing hair…my my.

Ilene Chaiken is a disgrace to the GLBT community. She’s a vile, ugly panderer to the sleazy straight guy fantasy. Showtime is just as bad. Note how nowhere in Showtime’s schedule is there room for gay and bi men, just women.

Fuck off Ilene, and fuck off Showtime.

Apr 30, 2010 at 12:26 am · @Reply ·

EdWoody

Word, not World.

Also, I’m not sure that putting “pretty girls” on TV is for the sake of the lesbians watching, frankly. It’s pandering to the heterosexual males who’ll tune in for some vicarious thrills. Not that I really know but as far as I can tell, lesbian aesthetics are entirely different.

Apr 30, 2010 at 1:39 pm · @Reply ·

drewbrown

@bruce: What a stupid thing to say about Showtime. Have you seen Nurse Jackie, which had two full-on gay male characters last season and one this season? (Still pissed that Momo is gone, but…) Have you seen U.S. of Tara, where the teenage son of the title character is gay? And the neighbors are gay men. Obviously not.

Apr 30, 2010 at 3:36 pm · @Reply ·

Vox

Gay men get off on being so endlessly paranoid and cynical over how much more lesbians are supposedly accepted over them. It’s really very stupid, and tiring. Don’t cling to being a martyr like it’s some kind of badge of honor, or allots extra sympathy points. It doesn’t.

Straight men most likely aren’t going to tune in to this for the same reason they don’t watch the View, or melodrama’s on Lifetime. It doesn’t cater to them. It caters to women. If a guy wants to see 2 women getting it on, he’ll skip the drama and just watch lesbo porn. Not a TV show that caters to a woman’s POV, with only a small fraction of flesh.

Stop acting like lesbians solely exist to be a lopsided, unfair conspiracy theory to appease straight men and/or to keep the gay man down. That attitude is sexist as hell.

“Naturally, the same criticisms will remain: ‘Lesbians on television are always lipstick!,’ you’ll say; or, ‘Where are the bull dykes?’ Valid questions! But creator Ilene Chaiken has never been apologetic about how she chooses to traffic in sapphic television. She likes putting pretty women on television — the kind you’d want to screw.”